LOME, May 25 (AFP) - As peace talks between Sierra Leone's government and rebels were due to get under way Tuesday in Lome, there was speculation about attempts to derail their successful start. Reports of a rebel violation of a ceasefire on Monday, the day a truce was to take effect, worried officials brokering or observing the negotiations in the Togolese capital. "My biggest fear is not the discrepancy in positions (between adversaries) for establishing peace in Sierra Leone," a senior official of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) told AFP Tuesday. "I think the hardest part will be to get rebels on the ground, such as Sam Bockarie and others, to obey what is decided on here," said the official, who asked to remain unnamed. Sam Bockarie, known as Mosquito because of his rapid ability to move in the bush, is the field commander of the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF), which has been fighting succesive Freetown governments since 1991. On Monday, ECOMOG, the Nigerian-led military arm of ECOWAS, said that RUF forces had launched raids near Kenema and Koidu in eastern Sierra Leone, and at the central town of Mile 91. RUF spokesman Omrie Golley, a member of the delegation in Lome, told AFP he "had not been able to verify the report, as communication was difficult with men on the ground." Concern about the derailment of the peace negotiations before they actually get on track has prompted ECOWAS officials to privately consider whether to ask Charles Taylor, Liberia's president, to play some kind of leadership role in the conflict, the senior official said. The RUF, which launched its bush war from Liberia, is alleged to be getting military support from Monrovia. Despite denials from Liberia's government that it is fuelling the rebellion, President Taylor has in the past been able to rein in Bockarie and persuade him to agree to a ceasefire. Others here remained cautious about prospects for achieving peace quickly in a nation where eight years of civil war have devastated a country rich in natural resources and once a popular tourist destination. "In my opinion, we don't expect any miracle in the process of making peace, said Togolese Foreign Minister Joseph Koffigoh, who will mediate Tuesday's talks, expected to begin late in the day. "The only thing we can say is that it is up to Sierra Leoneans themselves to make peace in their country. We are here to help them," he told journalists. As chairman of ECOWAS, Togo's President Gnassingbe Eyadema has played a key role in the peace process. In the presence of Jesse Jackson, US special envoy to Africa, Eyadema managed to get Sierra Leonean President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and rebel leader Foday Sankoh to agree last week to a ceasefire. The seven members of a special ECOWAS committee charged with assisting the negotiations are Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia and Togo. Foreign ministers of the Committee of Seven were to examine respective peace proposals by government and RUF early Tuesday afternoon. The RUF delegation is being led by Sankoh, who was sentenced to death on treason charges last October. Presiding the eight-member government delegation is Solomon Berewa, Sierra Leone's attorney general. Among other government delegates are Sahr Matturi, deputy minister of foreign affairs, Sheku Mansaray, a national security advisor, Tom Carew, a Sierra Leonean army colonel, and Kadi Sesay, chairman of the National Committee of Democracy and Human Rights in Sierra Leone. The contents of the government's "position paper" on establishing peace had not been released publicly by Tuesday afternoon. Sankoh, in an interview with AFP on Monday, said he "would have appreciated having seen some of the government's ideas" before heading into talks here. The RUF, which revealed its peace proposals earlier this month, has demanded a four-year transition government, a new constitution, amnesty for its members, and an end to Sierra Leone's military cooperation agreement with Nigeria. Tuesday's peace talks were delayed by several hours after ECOWAS foreign ministers debated at length on a policy toward Niger, whose president was assassinated in April by presidential guards.  